


Romeo and Ghoul-iet

by septnanis



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Ghosts, Halloween, Halloween Town (Nightmare Before Christmas), M/M, Mission Fic, Post-Canon, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, Post-Kingdom Hearts III - Re Mind DLC, Romance, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:15:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27311746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/septnanis/pseuds/septnanis
Summary: Sora and Riku go on a mission to Halloween Town to take care of a little Heartless problem. Sora uses his own magic to protect the world order, but the results are a little unexpected.
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 65





	Romeo and Ghoul-iet

The sound of the shower wakes Sora up and it makes him smile sleepily. If Riku is in the shower, that means he’s got at least a good half an hour to stay in bed. Riku likes long showers and spending a long time in front of the mirror making himself look presentable. Not that Sora knows why it takes so long, considering Riku is the kind of person who even has a rogueish sort of handsomeness when he just rolls out of bed.

He reaches out and grabs his Gummiphone off the bedside table to see if he’s missed any important messages.

_Need you to drop by Halloween Town_ , a message from Kairi says. _We got a pretty intense Heartless reading from there yesterday._

Sora replies with clumsy fingers.

_Thought we got rid of the heartless in Halloween Town,_ Sora replies.

As Sora scrolls through the other messages, it only takes a few minutes for Kairi to respond.

_We did too!_ She says, a little confused emoji behind it. _Guess we missed something. You don’t mind right? You can take Riku if he wants. If he daaares._

Sora grins at his phone. _Of course! Consider it done,_ he types out. So much for staying in bed for a little while. _And Riku is fearless, of course he dares!_

_Whatever you say!_ Kairi replies.

He has at least until Riku is done showering, so Sora curls back down into their bed to snooze. Their bed in their little apartment in Twilight Town is way too small for the two of them, but buying a new bed seemed like a commitment for two people who were constantly on the move. And Sora didn’t mind cuddling close.

Just as he well off into snoozing, the bathroom door opens, a little remaining steam from the shower and the smell of soap creeps into the room and pulls Sora back into the land of the conscious. He groans.

“Kairi said she found a Heartless reading,” Sora mumbles from underneath the covers. “You wanna come?”

Riku scoffs but laughs after, walking over to the little chest of drawers that holds their clothes. “Really, the two of us? Thought that wasn’t allowed.”

Sora turns in bed and looks blearily at Riku, who is in a white t-shirt and his black shorts. His skin is still a little flushed from the shower. When it comes to missions, the Keyblade wielders are usually sent out in pairs but also mixed with the more seasoned of them with the less experienced. So in that regard, Sora and Riku are usually split up, being the more seasoned of the bunch. Especially now that Sora was an official Keyblade Master.

“It’s allowed, they just prefer it if they spread our talents out,” Sora says. “So will you?”

Riku pulls a black vest on and shrugs. “Sure,” he says. “It’s been ages since we’ve been on a mission together.” He pulls a pair of pants on and then walks over to the bed. He sits down on it and leans over the mass of blankets covering Sora.

“That means you’ll have to get up, lazybones,” Riku says. Sora sighs and tries to escape underneath the covers. “If you get up and shower, I’ll make you your favorite breakfast.” Which was toast and eggs and nothing special at all but it did mean Sora didn’t have to do it, which is a luxury.

After a shower, a hasty attempt at making their bed, Sora is shovelling eggs and toast into his mouth and Riku is deeply affronted.

“You tricked me!” He says, righteous fury lighting up his handsome face. “I can’t believe you tricked me.”

Sora rolls his eyes. “No, I didn’t!” he says around a mouthful of eggs. “What’s wrong with Halloween Town?”

Riku sits down with his own breakfast and starts eating it like that too is offending him for withholding information. “You know why,” he says, brow deeply furrowed. “You know I hate scary places and ghosts and…”

“Halloween Town isn’t scary, Riku,” Sora says. “And besides, I’ll be there! They may all be ghosts and ghouls and vampires and stuff but they’re all really nice. And Jack and Sally are my friends, they’ll be really happy to finally meet you.”

Sora knows Riku doesn’t like spooky or scary stuff, which has always surprised him because Riku was one of the, if not the bravest person he’s ever met. But he hates being startled and he hates ghost stories and always had. To Sora, Halloween Town was a just a fun place where his friends live.

Riku gives him a long, hard look and just for a moment Sora thinks Riku might tell him to go take a hike.

But he doesn’t, because Riku never tells Sora to go take a hike because he’s a nice, considerate boyfriend and best friend. Sora does resign himself to the fact that he’ll be hearing about this in Riku’s subtle, almost passive aggressive way for the next few weeks. Oh well, he’d make it up to him! And maybe he’ll come around to Halloween Town.

Sora stands and puts his dirty dishes in the sink and starts the making up part by putting his arms around Riku’s neck and giving him a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, Riku,” he says, putting on a voice that’s just slightly sweeter than usual.

Riku just grumbles but Sora knows that means he’s on the right track.

——

Because Sora no longer travels with Donald and Goofy all the time, Sora had learned the magic to transform themselves in order to preserve world order. He was still a little clumsy with it at times, changing someone’s clothes is a lot easier than changing someone’s entire form altogether, but he usually got the job done pretty well. Because he always focused on his Keyblade wielding skills, it had never occurred to him that he would actually have a pretty good predisposition for magic.

Fairy Godmother had graciously told him he could join the lessons she was giving some of the other wielders. It felt nice to learn new things.

Once they touch down from the Gummiship into the new world, Sora immediately holds out his hands and cast the spell. Both Sora and Riku are enveloped in a flash of bright, white light and the sensation of the spell working wraps around Sora like a glove before it releases again and the light dissipates.

Sora looks around and sighs. He really loves going to Halloween Town. The dark atmosphere the sloping hills, even the chilly air around them that made light goosebumps form on his arms made him excited to be back.

His own outfit was a little different than the one before, although it may have something to do with the fact that he was the one casting the spell. He could feel little fangs poking out of the corner of his mouth and when he touches his face, his skin feels ice cold. He spreads his arms and notices he has a small cape that seems to be made of blackened cobwebs.

“See, Riku!” He says, gesturing around him. “No ghosts, or monsters or ghouls… we’ll be just fine!”

“Sora…” Riku’s voice sounds besides him and Sora turns at how far away and wispy it sounds.

Sora’s eyes go wide as dinner plates.

His best friend was as silver all over and his hair usually is, his skin and eyes and hair so light he almost looks transparant. There’s a blueish, shimmering sheen over his whole body and the all white clothes he’s wearing seem to float around him like he’s standing in a breeze. And his feet, no longer covered in his usual sturdy boots, are bare.

“Oh wow!” Sora cries out and gets up close to Riku. “Riku, you’re a…”

“A ghost…” Riku says and there’s a tone to his voice that makes him sound almost mournful. “This is an interesting choice.”

Sora nods and reaches out to grab him, to see if he feels any different but his hands go straight through Riku’s form and he nearly falls forward. The magic spell he’d learned had really worked well… maybe even a little too well.

“I didn’t choose it,” Sora says and gets up as close as he can to study all the interesting details of his boyfriend as a dearly departed someone. “The magic chose it…. I guess the magic thought you’d make a really good sad ghost.”

“I’m not sad!” Riku says, but the way his voice is, far away and sorrowful, he absolutely is a sad ghost. “Hey, cut it out…” He waves a spectral hand at Sora and it goes straight through him. “Oh great… you better hope I can still hold a Keyblade, otherwise I’m going to have beat the Heartless with the sound of my apparent tragic demise.”

In order to check if he could indeed summon his Keyblade and hold it in his hand, Riku snaps his wrist and Braveheart appears, in the same ghostly pale shade as the rest of him. It sits in his hand as comfortably as ever.

Sora looks thoughtful. “Maybe you died your tragic death with Braveheart,” he says and laughs out loud when Riku tries to give him another admonishing smack on the arm and it just goes straight through Sora. “Knowing you, it was a very romantic death.”

“You better start walking or else,” Riku says, clearly unamused but not as offended as he sounds.

Sora tries desperately not to laugh when Riku trails behind him as they walk towards the town.

——

“Hey, Jack!” Sora calls out, when he spots his friend in the middle of the square.

The tall, lanky skeleton waves a bony arm and gives him his usual manic grin. “Sora, what a pleasant surprise! We were hoping you would show up,” he calls out.

Sora and Riku join him in the middle of the square and Sora bows

“All hail Jack, the Pumpkin King,” Sora says. “How’s this years preparations going for Halloween?”

Jack continues to grin and waves a hand to show the town, which looks exactly the same as it always does, but then it would when every day was Halloween. “As you can see, today’s Halloween is the best yet! But… we have a problem, of the Heartless variety.”

Sora nods. “Yeah, we heard,” he says. “So Riku and I came here to help?”

“Riku?” A new voice chimes in, and Sora makes a happy sound.

“Hi, Sally!” he greets the living doll.

She steps up to join the three of them and takes a long, hard look at Riku, who bobs above the ground a little like a spectral duckin the water.

“I’ve heard so much about you,” Sally says. “Sora talks about you all the time. Jack and I always ask him, when will you bring your Riku by so that we can meet him?” She turns to give Sora a smile. “But he says there isn’t much chance you’ll come, but never why exactly. And here you are!”

Riku gives Sora another patented disapproving look.

“Oh, did I never say?” Sora says, his grin teasing. “Riku’s a bit of a…”

“Don’t you dare,” Riku says in his woeful voice.

“Scaredy-cat!” Sora finishes, despite the warning. Riku just crosses his arms and attempts and fails at looking menacing.

Jack and Sally share a look. “How strange, but you’re always speaking of how brave Riku is,” Sally says, unassuming. “And how strong and…”

“And he appears to us a spirit,” Jack adds. “Only those of strong fortitude or a monstrous desire to take revenge on the living can manifest themselves as a fully formed spirit.”

In the past, Sora had taken the effort to explain why they looked the way they did. There were only so many Heartless attacks that could take place and someone could disappear almost immediately after before it started looking suspicious. Clearly Jack thought Riku’s world order keeping appearance was some kind of reflection of who he was.

“Maybe you could point us in the direction where these Heartless are,” Riku says, failing yet again at sounding anything other than full of sorrow. It even ended on a sigh that has Sora biting his lip to keep him from bursting into laughter. “We’ll take care of them.”

Sora pumps his fist in the air. “Yeah! We’ll get rid of those Heartless before the next Halloween,” he says. Which was likely later in the day, so they were definitely on a time limit. “We might have time left to visit Santa Clause!”

For just a split second, Riku stops looking like a mournful romantic spirit and a little more like a vengeful one so Sora shuts his mouth and doesn’t push it.

“Follow me, gentlemen!”

——

The Heartless turn out to be a tiny army, hiding in the trees just outside Halloween Town. It’s a challenge but nothing they can’t handle.

It does occur to Sora however, once he turns to cast a spell on one of the Heartless behind him that there must have been a reason why Sora’s magic turned Riku into a ghost and the proof of it was before him.

Now that he wasn’t trailing behind Sora looking sad, he was pretty magnificent to behold.

Because of his spectral form, he cuts through the Heartless so gracefully and effortlessly he looks like a streak of light and air. The floaty rags of his clothing turn to billowing fabric that makes Riku look like he’s dancing rather than fighting. For someone who is usually light on his feet and graceful, this form makes it especially more beautiful somehow.

Sora gets so caught up in how pretty Riku is in his ghost form, long silvery hair an ethereal trail behind him and Braveheart almost looking it cut through the Heartless in slow motion that he doesn’t notice the Heartless behind him, who proceeds to soundly bop him on the head so hard he passes out.

The last thing he sees is Riku twirling towards him to shout, and he decides it’s a great view.

When he comes to, they’re back in the town square by the fountain and both Riku and Jack hang over his face, Jack looking as he always does and Riku looking torn between worried and vengeful again.

“He seems to be coming to,” Jack says. “Sora, are you alright?”

Sora groans and reaches up to rub his head. Apparently using a spell to make you undead doesn’t mean getting a blow to the head doesn’t hurt. Because it really, really hurts. “Ow, ow, ow,” he complains, reaching up to rub his head. “Yeah, I guess. What happened?”

Riku leans back so Sora can sit up. “You got distracted by something,” he says. “Luckily we got rid of most of them by then. The forest should be clear now.” He has that tone he usually puts on when Sora gets himself into trouble, where he sounds torn between wanting to make Sora feel better and give him a lecture that will make his ears ring.

Sora gives him a thumbs up.

“What had you so distracted, Sora?” Jack asks.

Sora decides if he admits that Riku being so pretty is what had him so distracted that he got clobbered by a minor Heartless, Riku will never let him hear the end of it. So he just shrugs and hopes they’ll leave it alone.

Obviously they do not.

“I have to say,” Jack says. “You said Riku was a scaredy-cat earlier, but he didn’t seem to be bothered by any of those Heartless monsters. And he said nothing as we made our way back to the square.”

Sally joins them, looking worried. Little did they both know that that was exactly what Riku did when he was scared, freeze up and shut down. Though he wasn’t sure if it was because of his surroundings or from worry for Sora.

“Thanks, Jack,” Riku says. “I just… don’t really like scary… stuff,” he admits and looks around like he hopes he hasn’t offended anyone.

“Nonsense!” Jack cries out. “How could someone who makes such a fine ghost not like all that is scary?”

Sora looks at Riku and almost points at him.

“Being in this form is actually a little frustrating,” Riku says. “I can’t pick anything up besides my Keyblade. Jack had to carry you back to the square.”

Sally lays a hand on Riku’s arm so gently it doesn’t go straight through him. “You can try an old remedy for that,” Sally says. “If a forlorn ghost, longing for the one they love, finds that person and is given a token of love that they do not need to hold, their spirit will be released. Perhaps that will give you a more practical form.”

Once again, Sora almost felt the need to remind Sally that Riku wasn’t actually a ghost, just magicked into one but then he realised this was something he could do.

“Oh, I know!” Sora cries out.

“Sora, what are you planning?” Riku asks, sounding both mournful and full of trepidation.

Sora stands up and ignores that his head is still spinning a little. Riku is already a good head and a bit of shoulders taller than him, but as a floaty ghost he’s up even higher so Sora stands on his tippy toes and tilts his head up towards Riku.

“A token for my lost love,” Sora says and closes his eyes in a clear invitation.

If his eyes had been open, he would have seen Riku roll his ghostly eyes but lean down with a slightly sad smile to press his lips to Sora’s. For a moment, nothing happens and it seems as if nothing will, until a bright light flashes between them, the same kind that did when they first arrived.

When it fades, Riku’s lips are no longer cold and barely there against Sora’s but warm. Sora pulls away and opens his eyes. His best friend is no longer a sad ghost but a tall, bushy tailed, pointy eared werewolf.

“Oh wow!” Sora cries out. “It actually worked!”

Sally and Jack clap, cheering for the two of them. “You have been set free, Riku! You are a scaredy-cat no longer.” Jack says and reaches over to shake his hand. Sora dives into his embrace and locks his arms around Riku’s waist, laughing loudly. Riku shakes the bony hand he’s given and wonders if this was really a problem that needed solving, considering he was turned from one frightening monster into another.

Still, everyone around him seems pleased, including the other Halloween Town’s people who have gathered around to watch the spectacle.

“We should come back to Halloween Town more often,” Sora says, looking up at Riku with twinkling eyes and a happy, fang filled smile. “Now that you’re not a scaredy-cat anymore.”

Riku leans down and presses a whiskery kiss to Sora’s forehead, which still feels strangely cold to the touch but no less pleasing.

“Yeah, maybe,” Riku says and turns when he feels something brush against his tail behind him. It only takes a second to be face to face with what seems to be a little spectral dog or some kind before he gives out a shriek to wake the dead and dives behind Sora, tail tucked between his legs.

Sora looks down behind him at Riku cowering behind his legs and then shrugs at Jack. “Or maybe not,” he says, before bursting into laughter. He leans down and wraps his arms around his werewolf boyfriend. “Don’t worry, Riku, I’ll protect you from the ghouls and ghosts, remember?”

Riku waits a moment before standing up straight, one hand behind his head and a sheepish look on his face. “Yeah… thanks, Sora.”

Sora throws his arms around Riku and grins.

Jack throws his own arms up and gestures to all of the town’s people.

“Another successful fright!” he calls out and the town cheers. “And a happy Halloween!”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not much of a Halloween person, but I got caught up in this hc of Riku turning into this sad, romantic ghost as his world order protecting form in Halloween Town and Sora being amused at first until he realises how pretty Riku is as a ghost. 
> 
> All it took was a kiss of true love to turn him into something a little more practical. 
> 
> The little spectral dog at the end is Zero of course, and afterwards they become good friends.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed and please enjoy your Halloween, whatever it is you're getting up to!


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